Details about the next instalment of Clockwork Watch…
20 years after the events of The Arrival, our second graphic novel Breakaway shows Britain in the grips of a violent transformation. Clockwork servants are all the rage. Although this new Clockwork life is not as easy as the government foresaw it to be… and at the crackling centre of the ticking time-bomb that is British society, an embittered Janav Ranbir wants to tear everything down…
Janav – 20 years after The Arrival
Janav’s all grown up now.
First concepts of the Clockwork Watch uniform.
First sketches of possible hairdue for Janav.
Trying out his grown up face…
Here’s the first scan of the painting! I still need to do a few touch up’s here and there, but the majority of the work is done.
Here’s a progress scan of what is to become a painting very soon!
And below are a few first sketches and doodles of various things connected to Breakaway, the sequel to The Arrival which is currently being drawn by yours truly behind the scenes!
The very first concept sketch of a certain Chan, 20 years on from The Arrival.
The following doodles show how I start off with costume designs. I do quick little thumbnails.
And finally a sketch of… Well.. It’ll become clear later on. 😛
So, you’ve seen some of the artwork showing a few of the characters you’ll be joining on the journey that is Clockwork Watch – but who are they? Well, you’ll be finding out soon enough in The Arrival, however there’s no harm in introducing some of the people whose lives will dramatically change before you over the next 12 months…
Janav and his mother
At eight years old, Janav is our doe-eyed gateway into the world of Clockwork Watch, and our touchstone to this strange new and rapidly changing society. He’s headstrong, inquisitive and has a streak of rebelliousness about him, all traits that prove to be hugely important in the events that follow his arrival into England.
Yomi’s original script showed Janav to have a curiosity about many aspects of his new life, which is something Jen captures perfectly in her artwork. Janav’s wide-eyed expressions manage a wonderful sense of naivety and innocence which is something I wanted to explore visually early on in the story. Some sequences I adapted play up this element of childishness to create a sense of comedy, others work to present just how big, strange and scary it is to be taken from your home into a new country, especially one going through a Steampunk revolution.
Early Janav Sketch
Janav is a far more complex character than initially appears, and there are a lot of elements in Yomi’s original script that all push towards showing fringes of darkness that rests within this little boy. It’s something I was keen on exploring and emphasising from a dramatic point of view, which leads to some important shifts in narrative the closer we get to Janav. When you read The Arrival, see if you can spot the significant changes that mark Janav’s growth – which have huge consequences on the Ranbir family…